You know, possums look like giant rats. I think frontiersmen and settlers ate them fairly regularly, but that could be part of the reason life expectancy was in the 40s, and 50s back in those days.
Where I live, we have a LOT of edible wildlife. People eat squirrel (a favorite, surprisingly), Racoon, Deer, turkey, but nobody will touch Possum. I think they feel the same way about Skunk, btw...